From his home in La Jolla, his spread near Julian, or his roost at the Centre City Development Corp., former Bank of Commerce CEO Pete Davis takes a long view of the latest local bank renaissance in San Diego. After a fling with a political career, in which he became always Peter Q. Davis, Davis has settled back in, publicly and behind-the-scenes helping with the financial arrangements for the new Padres ballpark. He was the primary mover behind switching the municipal bond debt service guarantee from the hotel tax to the property tax increment, a hugely important but mostly unsung transition.

Here are some of his takes on the top performers in banking last year and on the newbies now crowding onto the scene:

San Diego National Bank:

The “best of all possible worlds now. It still has the local name, the local presence and is very active in making sizable loans locally. But it doesn’t have to worry about concerns of local banks with the big piggy bank back east. In this case, they’ve left SDNB fairly independent to do real estate loans Downtown, support local civic and charitable activities. We’re fortunate to have them.”

Of the lower ranking banks:

“All the bad performers have gotten their feet underneath them. Investors need to know a) do these banks have the right leadership and b) do they have a niche that they can develop? The top banks that we’ve looked at have niches and the right leadership. Regents has got good local leadership. The investors all have huge investments in it, and they’re going to be watching that pot.”

Rising stars:

“Southwest Community Bank is in the middle and rising toward the top. It seems to me to be the ideal bank the way it’s structured going into the 21st century. The president knows San Diego, and has been here most of his life; the board has known each other for a long time. The data processing niche has carried them through.”

Are local banks victims of their own success?

“It seems like there’s a harvesting of local banks about every 10 years. We saw it when Grossmont, Torrey Pines Bank and La Jolla Bank & Trust were sold at the end of the ’80s. In the late ’70s, it was international investors; in the ’80s interstate banks like Wells Fargo and Security Pacific wanted to buy all the local banks so that the interstate banks couldn’t buy them. Then, in the 1990s, interstate banks came looking to California. USB bought Bank of Commerce because of our SBA niche. When local banks reach asset size of about half a billion dollars, they become attractive for whatever the motivation and it takes about 20 years to get to that size.”

Everybody says local banks give better service. Is there really a difference?

“Most banks like Wells and USB believe they bring an efficiency and an ability to cut overhead. They cut some of the familiar faces, the people who were willing to kick back and spend 20 or 30 minutes with you. Most people feel they’re not getting the same level of service from the big banks.

“I tried to get a loan through U.S. Bank, a fairly large loan secured by a certificate of deposit I had with them and was absolutely amazed that they couldn’t just give me an approval, that it had to go through higher authorities and the approval process was not at that level here in town. I know that any bank in town would have been glad to take my CD — it was borrowing my own money. We might have haggled over the interest rate, but there never would have been a choke or a stumble in town.”

How about these new, pristine banks with seasoned leadership?

“In ’82, we had 16 banks in formation at the time and they looked fairly pristine. Just because the bank looks pristine, it doesn’t mean that it will be able to make it in tough times. All ships look alike sitting at the dock; it’s when you get out in the oceans and storms you find out which ones are well-built. This is a good time to form banks. I’ve talked to regulators and bankers and there’s a much kinder, gentler atmosphere. (But) if we start to have bank failures again and the regulators are unleashed, a lot of these ships will start to hit the storms. It’s a 50 percent proposition, and when they fail the bank directors are held liable, the shareholders lose their original investment, the management have their reputations tarnished. When they succeed, it’s beautiful. A $10 Bank of Commerce investment in 1976 was worth $2,200 in 1998 when we sold. That’s a huge multiple. It’s a great profit opportunity but there’s also substantial risk.”

— Richard Acello